This is the zombie apocalypse. Something is making young people in the prime of their lives retreat from the world and choose death.
- Drug overdose is the leading cause of death of Americans under 50.
- 91 Americans die from an opioid overdose every day.
- 75% of heroin addicts in the US were originally addicted to painkillers and switched to heroin because it is less expensive.
- In 2016, 44% of overdose deaths in New York City involved Fentanyl, which is 50 times stronger than heroin and is used by dealers to lace into street drugs.
- Carfentanil is now entering the street drug supply and it’s 100 times stronger than Fentanyl; 10,000 more potent than morphine. An amount of Carfentanil the size of a grain of sand could kill you.
- Princeton economist Alan Krueger believes that the 350% increase in opioid prescriptions since 2001 has led to a 20% drop in labor force participation mainly by people of prime age.
- In the Rust Belt, 25% of eligible workers cannot pass drug screening tests, which is hurting those few manufacturing businesses that have managed to survive the the technological and trade upheavals of the past 20 years.
These dry statistics are awful but they don’t speak to the overwhelming heartbreak of families and lives being torn apart.
